Team Player
by Kiva
Summary: After the events of 'The Internment', Nick offers Kristin some advice.


Um...just a little something that popped in to my head a while back. Kristin's behavior in the Internment annoyed me (but whether that was a result of her behavior, or just that...well, she's Kristin) I thought I'd write this. Feedback is greatly appreciated.  
  
*****  
  
Rolling her head and gently shrugging her shoulders, Kristin tried to relieve the tension in her neck and back. She gave up with a sigh when there was no change, making a mental note to have a long, hot bubble-bath later. Propping her chin on her hands, she allowed the clenched fists to take the weight of her head. Her eyes struggled to focus on the large screen that took up most of one wall of the Control room, as she had long since lost the ability to distinguish between the words, sentences now streaming together to create long lines of color.  
  
"I need more coffee," she muttered, pushing her seat back to free her legs from the desk, before grabbing her crutches from where they rested against the side of the desk, standing with a little effort and moving slowly to the holographic wall, eyes front as the scanners checked her retinal scan. The computer came up with a match, the hologram faded to let her pass and the becoming solid once more.  
  
She headed for the kitchen, now wanting food to go with the Java one of her housemates was undoubtedly brewing. It was a dietary staple in the San Francisco Legacy house. Hardly healthy, as Rachel would no doubt point out, but sometimes necessary in their line of work.  
  
Walking - or hobbling, as she thought of it - in to the large room, brightly lit by artificial lighting at this time of night, she was slightly startled to see Nick sitting at the kitchen table.  
  
"Nick! I thought you and Derek were catching an early flight tonight."  
  
The ex SEAL stirred, looking towards his colleague.  
  
"We were...but all the planes are grounded due to the weather. Derek went to take a nap...he's barely back from his trip to Russia. I said I'd wait here in case the airport call."  
  
Turning to the window and moving the curtain aside slightly, Kristin noted the weather for the first time.  
  
"Wow...looks thick."  
  
That was a small understatement. The fog was so thick that she couldn't see the grounds of the castle.  
  
She shrugged, before heading to the coffee pot, maneuvering it awkwardly with the crutches she tried to rest in the crook of her arms while she balanced on one foot, offering Nick a re-fill before pouring her own.  
  
She sat at the table, glad to take the weight of her still painful knee, and laying the crutches down flat on the floor, she sipped the drink. She was busy deciding what she wanted to eat, when Nick finally spoke.  
  
"Actually, I'm glad you're here. I have something I wanted to talk to you about."  
  
Kristin raised an eyebrow, the corner of her full lips quirking. "Really? What would that be?"  
  
Nick didn't return the smile, placing down his cup with exaggerated care before leaning forward in his chair. "Your conduct during the Somerville case," he said seriously.  
  
"My - my *what*?" she asked incredulously.  
  
"You heard me," Nick replied. "Now, I'm not accusing, and I'm not judging. But your behavior was dangerous, Kristin."  
  
"Excuse me," Kristin said indignantly. "But in case you didn't catch it, we managed to free those souls, as well as prevent more people being taken in the future. I think we did well."  
  
Nick sighed. "Look, Rachel has already filed her report. I talked to her a little bit - "  
  
"So did I," Kristin cut in. "And we resolved everything. Rachel understands that I had to find out about my father - "  
  
"And it nearly cost us all our lives," Nick told her.  
  
Kristin threw her hands up. "I can't believe I'm hearing this from you. Mr Impulsive - "  
  
"Impulsive with my own life, yes," Nick agreed. "Not with others, not if I can help it."  
  
There was silence for a moment, before Kristin tried again. "I did nothing wrong, Nick. Rachel and I were on the road, you guys knew that. You knew we were investigating the possible link to my father...I wasn't alone, I had back up. That's what we do."  
  
"We investigate, yes," Nick said. "Sometimes we're in danger - more often than not, there's a threat to our lives." He leaned back now. "Rachel told me that you were the one who suggested going out of the way to Somerville. Why did you?"  
  
Kristin frowned. "Because we were practically *there.* It would have wasted more time turning around, you know that."  
  
"Yeah," Nick agreed. "But if you had come back here, we could have prepared, researched, gotten equipment...you were lucky that we tracked you guys down at all."  
  
"But you did, everything worked out fine."  
  
"This time," Nick told her. "You know that field teams aren't supposed to investigate dangerous leads without letting their house know where they're going."  
  
"Yeah, but -"  
  
"No buts," Nick replied. He looked down at his hands, picking up the mug he'd put down. "Look...I know what it is to need to know. To have something you *have* to know the answer to. You know about my brother Jimmy...I've wanted to know what happened to him for twenty years...and honestly, before he died, if I'd have come up with a lead, I might have tracked it down, just like you did."  
  
He speared her with his gaze. "But I wouldn't have done it like you did. Firstly, endangering Rachel like that...and secondly, without a decent back up plan."  
  
Her lower jaw moved as she tried to come up with a reply, but Nick beat her too it again. "Listen...I'm not your boss. But if there's one thing I've learned since I became a part of the Legacy - no matter how long it took them to beat it through my thick skull - it's that you have to be a team player. It doesn't matter if you're sent out to investigate as a group, a pair, or just on your own. You have to involve your team." His expression turned solemn. "Or people could die."  
  
And without giving her a chance to answer, he rose, taking his mug to the sink, washing it out and leaving it on the draining board.  
  
Kristin sat there for a few moments longer. She was no longer hungry...instead, all she felt was tired, this exhaustion having nothing to do with her throbbing knee. Reaching down carefully so as not to jar her knee, she grabbed her crutches, levering herself slowly to her feet.  
  
"A team player, huh?" she murmured. She could do that...after all, if Nick Boyle could, then how hard could it be?  
  
The End. 


End file.
